


rewrite destiny

by thestuffedalligator



Series: M9 next generation ficlets [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Drabble, Ficlet, Future Fic, Gen, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 03:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20632520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestuffedalligator/pseuds/thestuffedalligator
Summary: When Calianna is fourteen, she's an apprentice under the wizard Widogast.





	rewrite destiny

When Calianna is fourteen, she’s an apprentice under the wizard Widogast.

It sounds more impressive than it really is. Sure, he’s the hero of the Dynasty and master transmuter, champion of the Changebringer, Wishwinner, but she’s always known him as a friend of her mother, as a gangly human with red hair and a soft, Zemnian accent who tends to loom awkwardly and apologize.

She learns quickly that he’s an excellent teacher, always patient, always forgiving, always willing to help. One year into her apprenticeship, she asks a question that’s been on her mind for a while.

“Is there magic,” she starts, and then reconsiders. “Is there a _ spell _ that can reveal what a person’s true self is?”

He leans back in his chair. “Well. That is...a question. You mean a spell to dispel an illusion, or…” He gestures vaguely. “Like what I did for your mother?”

It sounds stupid when he phrases it like that, because then of _ course _ there’s a spell for it. She stares at the table, seemingly very interested in the sigil for Dancing Lights. “I mean,” she mutters, “like, what if someone was born in the wrong body, but they know they were supposed to be something else?” Her fingers trace the shape of the sigil idly. “Like, if they were born as a boy, but they - she knows that she’s a girl.”

He doesn’t respond for a moment. Then speaking as if it had been a delightful thought problem he says, “_ Ja _, of course. Rewrite Destiny. We, ah, haven’t really covered it, because I don’t think you should meddle with dunamancy,” a pained expression flashes across his face, “but it essentially deals with using magic to retroactively change one detail about a person. Change a goblin into a halfling, turn a man into a woman, that sort of thing.” He waves a hand vaguely. “Only downside is that the subject must be willing to be changed.”

Calianna stares forward. She’s stopped breathing. She can hear her heartbeat in her throat. “Oh,” she says. She tries not to give anything away with her tone.

“That being said,” Caleb says, suddenly leaning forward. Calianna finds herself leaning away. “That being said, Luc: _ please _tell your parents about this.” He smiles, and suddenly that same frumpy, gangly human is back. “I promise, they will not love you any less.”

And of course they don’t. Her father just sobs incomprehensibly while he’s hugging her, and while her mother is more controlled, she wipes away a tear while she’s smiling. “Oh, god,” she says, laughing. “Does _ everyone _in this family have to deal with this shit?”

In the end, she decides on the name Calianna, partly from her teacher, but mostly from the woman from her mother’s stories. They meet when she’s passing through Berleben with her green tiefling cleric cousin, and the kenku rogue from Hupperdook...

But of course, that's another story.


End file.
